1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film viewer for unloading, from a cartridge, a film accommodated therewithin, and for viewing the film.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when, at a printing shop, a customer requests development of and prints from a 35 mm film which has been photographed, prints and a negative film are returned to the customer. In general, the negative film to be returned is cut by every six frames and accommodated within an accommodating portion of a transparent negative film case.
When an extra printing process or the like at a processing laboratory is considered, it is more efficient to handle the film accommodated within a cartridge than the film cut by every six frames (e.g., it is unnecessary to load one film in a printer or the like more than once). In addition, in a film having a magnetic layer, which has been proposed in recent years (see "Shashin Kogyo" (Photographic Industries), July 1993, pp. 34-35), it is difficult to read magnetic information of the negative film which has been separated. Accordingly, a method of accommodating and returning the developed film within the cartridge has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-175448).
When the film is completely accommodated within the cartridge, a determination is not made as to whether the film inside has been developed. As a result, there is a possibility of erroneously exposing the undeveloped film. Accordingly, a cartridge having an indicator, which indicates whether the film has been developed, has been proposed. However, in this case, there is a possibility of overlooking or mistakenly recognizing the indicator of the cartridge.
Further, the uncut film is long and is not easily handled so that it is difficult for an ordinary user to withdraw the film from the cartridge and view its images. Moreover, when the film is withdrawn from the cartridge, there is a possibility of deteriorating the image quality by thumbing the surfaces of the images, or by scratches or the like on the film.